Notice

The application window for Faculty Travel Grants is always open. Grants are awarded continuously throughout the fiscal year until funding is exhausted.

The Humanities Center, through funding provided by the Humanities Center Endowment, offers annual travel grants to support attendance at professional conferences relating to the humanities. The purpose of these grants is to contribute to the professional development of faculty members and enhance their scholarly productivity.

Guidelines for Submitting a Faculty Research Grant Proposal

  1. Any tenured or tenure-track faculty member at UAH is eligible to submit a proposal.
  2. Proposed travel must relate to the humanities, as defined by 20 U.S. Code § 952(a):
    • 20 U.S. Code § 952(a): "The term “humanities” includes, but is not limited to, the study and interpretation of the following: language, both modern and classical; linguistics; literature; history; jurisprudence; philosophy; archeology; comparative religion; ethics; the history, criticism, and theory of the arts; those aspects of the social sciences which have humanistic content and employ humanistic methods; and the study and application of the humanities to the human environment with particular attention to reflecting our diverse heritage, traditions, and history and to the relevance of the humanities to the current conditions of national life."
    • The National Endowment for the Humanities, which is the funding source for the M. Louis Salmon Humanities Center Endowment, endorses this definition.
  3. Proposed travel should involve presenting a paper at a professional conference, participating in a panel, or serving as an officer of a society primarily concerned with humanistic research.
    • Travel that involves only commenting on other papers or merely attending a conference is not eligible for funding.
  4. Each applicant is eligible for no more than $700 for a single domestic trip within the U.S., and $900 for a single international trip.
  5. Each applicant is eligible for no more than $900 per fiscal year if there are multiple domestic trips, and no more than $1,100 per fiscal year if there is at least one international trip.
    • Exception: Qualifying faculty in their first two years of service with UAH are eligible for an additional $500 in travel grants per fiscal year.
  6. Travel proposals should be submitted using the UAH Authorization for Official Travel Request Form.
    • If the travel does not plainly relate to one of the categories in the definition of "humanities" from 20 U.S. Code § 952(a), the proposal should include a brief explanation of how the proposed travel relates to the humanities.
    • When estimating budget items, applicants should make an effort to avoid overestimating costs.
    • Proposals should be signed by the applicant and the applicant’s immediate supervisor prior to submission.
    • Applicants in the College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences should follow the CAHS procedure for submitting travel grants. Instructions for this procedure are available through the CAHS Dean’s Office and online at https://sites.google.com/uah.edu/uah-cahs/travel?authuser=0
  7. Each proposal should be submitted by email, as a single file in DOC or DOCX format, to humanitiescenter@uah.edu, preferably with the subject line "Faculty Travel Grant Proposal".
  8. Direct questions about Humanities Center Faculty Travel Grants to humanitiescenter@uah.edu

Evaluating Faculty Travel Grant Proposals

Members of the Humanities Center Steering Committee evaluate each proposal for its relevance to professional development and scholarship in the humanities at UAH as well as its cost. More specific evaluation criteria for determining whether a proposal should receive funding include:

  • Is the application complete?
  • Is the applicant a tenured or tenure-track faculty member at UAH?
  • Does the proposed travel relate to the humanities?
  • Does the proposed travel involve presenting a paper at a professional conference, participating in a panel, or serving as an officer of a society primarily concerned with humanistic research?
  • Are the proposed costs and expenditures reasonable and appropriate?
  • Has the applicant received prior travel funding from the Humanities Center, during the current fiscal year, in excess of their yearly allotment?
  • How much funding remains, in the portion of the Humanities Center’s available budget that is allotted to Faculty Travel Grants, for the fiscal year?

Members of the Steering Committee will review all proposals. The Director of the Humanities Center will rely upon the Steering Committee’s recommendations to determine how much funding to authorize, and thereafter notify all applicants about the status of their application.

Applicants can expect a verdict on their applications 2-4 weeks after submission (if not sooner). Applicants who do not receive notice of a verdict in a timely fashion should contact the Director of the Humanities Center to confirm the status of their application.

Receiving Faculty Travel Grants

When an application for travel funding is approved, the Director of the Humanities Center modifies the applicant’s UAH Authorization for Official Travel Request Form to indicate the amount of funding authorized by the Humanities Center.

Authorized funding is distributed in accordance with guidelines established by UAH. For grantees from the College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences, the Director forwards the modified UAH Authorization for Official Travel Request Form to the CAHS Dean’s Office. Authorized funding is then distributed in accordance with guidelines established by CAHS. (Those guidelines are available from the CAHS Dean’s Office.)

Unused funds are not returned but, instead, roll over from year to year until the contract is closed.

  • If funding is not used, there is a default automatic extension of the contract date for one year, with no paperwork required.
  • Unused funds must be used for the purpose of the originally funded proposal.
  • Grantees who want to use their funding for a different purpose should apply for a different grant.
  • Grant accounts are not closed without first notifying the grant recipient.
  • A request to close an account for unused funds will be sent to grantees who cannot use funds for their original purpose and apply for a different grant. The request will be sent upon receipt of the new application.